We may be hearing about the new Mac OS X soon.
Apple Insider first reported seeing a large increase in machines running 10.9 visiting its site in its traffic logs in November. When testing new operating systems, developers need to test their products on many diverse websites. And when the computers running these new OS X's appear on server logs, it tips off websites that a new OS X is on its way.
But traffic from OS 10.9 devices has really taken off since then, increasing from "a few dozen" in October to thousands in January. This increase is in line with past OS X releases, which Apple has been launching annually for the past few years (10.7 Lion in July 2011 and 10.8 Mountain Lion in July 2012). The first developer preview for Mountain Lion came in mid-February the year it was released, so it's looking good for a new OS X announcement any day now.
But on to a much more important matter: What will this new OS X be called? Unconfirmed rumors suggest 10.9 will be called Lynx, but whether that's based on fact or the dwindling number of big cats left to name OS X's after is unclear. After Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion, what else is left?
Apple already has a trademark on Lynx and Cougar, and since a Cougar is another name for Mountain Lion, Lynx makes sense. Although, if we're getting taxonomical, cougars, mountain lions, pumas and panthers are all essentially the same type of large, Western hemisphere cat (I'm still holding out for OS X 10.9 Catamount).
Apple hasn't quite used up all the large cats of the world for naming their operating systems though, so be on the lookout for OS X 10.10 Ocelot (Apple Dwarf Leopard has a nice ring to it) or OS X 10.11 Bobcat before Apple Timberwolf or Apple Brown Bear.
